Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
